Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN, United States

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Final Meeting of the Prepatory Committee for the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States: Working Group on Oceans

Final Meeting of the Prepatory Committee for the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States: Working Group on Oceans

STATEMENT BY H.E. Karel J.G. van Oosterom
Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
to the United Nations
NEW YORK, 24 June 2014

Thank you Mr. Chairman for giving me the floor.

The issues at hand during this preparatory conference are of great importance
to all four countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in particular also the
health of oceans and seas which we are now discussing. The threat coming from
rising sea levels is relevant both for the European part of the Kingdom, which
is partly six meters below sea-level, as well as for the Caribbean part of the
Kingdom.

Three constituent members of the Kingdom are located in the Caribbean, Aruba,
Curacao and St Maarten and are de facto Small Island Development States. Their
total population is approximately 300.000.

Therefore the issues to be discussed at the Samoa conference are of
existential importance to our Kingdom. In conformity with our interest in the
issues affecting SIDS, there will be a delegation of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands to the Samoa conference headed by the Prime-Minister of Aruba, Mike
Eman. Minister Eman recently visited New York and addressed both the Permanent
representatives of Caricom and of the SIDS.

The health and well-being of oceans and seas are of key importance to the
Kingdom. Therefore we organized a Global Oceans Action Summit in The Hague, the
Netherlands, from 22 to 25 April. Most countries in the world were represented
there. The Summit focused on the threat of rising sea levels, depletion of fish
stocks and the effects of the ongoing pollution of seas and oceans. Let me give
an example: 17 % of animal protein consumed by the world’s population comes from
oceans and seas. Rising sea levels and pollution threaten fragile marine
biodiversity. In short, sustainable development of many countries is threatened
by the way we treat our oceans and seas.

The Summit concluded very practical suggestions and shared many best
practices of addressing these challenges together. These included the dimensions
of

- enhanced coastal management

- improved sustainable management of fish stocks

- global action against pollution.

Furthermore, the conference concluded very clearly that we need a stand alone
Sustainable Development Goal in the Post-2015 development Agenda on oceans and
seas.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands expresses the hope that the recommendations of
the Global Oceans Action Summit will clearly be reflected in the outcome
document of the Samoa Summit.

As I have said before, the Kingdom of the Netherlands wants to be your
partner for peace, justice and development. The health and sustainability of
oceans and seas are directly related to all three dimensions. We look forward to
being a partner with both other member-states as the UN system, in order to
together implement that common agenda.